Summer knights

Batman fights for box-office glory, 'Pineapple Express' gets stoned by critics

By: Daniel Bortz

Posted: 8/26/08

This summer's blockbusters consisted of a wide array of films. From a superhero showdown to a raunchy comedy about marijuana, the sizzlers of 2008 brought diverse content to the box office. The D.O. takes a closer look at four of these movies.

dsbortz@syr.edu

"The Dark Knight"

Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Michael Caine

Directed by: Christopher Nolan

Rating: 4 stars out of 4

This film is the epitome of "the summer blockbuster" done right.

From epic special effects to brand new "bat-gadgets" and Ledger's stunning performance as the Joker, "The Dark Knight" feeds moviegoers' appetites for action and suspense. It's not every day a two-and-a-half hour film keeps your eyes locked, your heart pumping and your hands gripped tight on the seat in front of you.

Some would argue that Ledger's death was the leading factor in the film's bloated box-office totals - and they're probably right. Performances from Bale, Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Aaron Eckhart, Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman are all spot-on, but in the second installment of the newly revived Batman series, Ledger's Joker steals the show.

The late actor's sadistic laugh, scarred cheeks and sociopath tendencies redefine the pivotal role a villain can play in a movie's success. Though the villain doesn't serve as Ledger's first breakthrough role, it will most likely define his career.

However, the actor's stunning transformation into the sadistically humorous anarchist wasn't what made the film so enjoyable.

Credit director Christopher Nolan and the film's producers here for keeping their engaging and twist-filled storyline under wraps. Today's film trailers reveal far too much of the plot, to the point where there's nothing left for the moviegoers to find out when they actually go to see the film. By billing Ledger's performance and the film's top-notch visuals above all else, Warner Bros. Inc. managed to keep the film's many deeper, underlying conflicts secret.

Reminds us of: "The Silence of the Lambs" for Ledger's terrifying but simultaneously terrific role as a villain as dark and vicious as Hannibal Lector.

"The Fall"

Starring: Catinca Untaru, Lee Pace, Justine Waddell

Directed by: Tarsem Singh

Rating: 3 stars out of 4

The art of visual storytelling is difficult to capture. A director must create stimulating scenes with the power to bring the big screen to life and leave the audience in awe, which is no easy task.

Yet by building on sheer imagination, "The Fall" develops an elaborate fantasy tale embedded in the story of a young girl hearing the epic from an injured stuntman in a Los Angeles hospital. Singh's story also bends the concepts of reality and fiction, producing warped perceptions of the real world.

Singh takes the viewer on a thrilling ride packed with adventure and excitement, told through the relationship between Roy Walker (Pace) and Alexandria (Untaru).

After a chance meeting in a hospital wing, Walker tells Alexandria a story about five mythical heroes who band together on a journey across the desert to stop an evil tyrant.

As the story unfolds, the relationship between Walker and Alexandria intensifies. With every step along the way, Alexandria grows more and more consumed by the story, and Walker begins to use her for sneaking morphine out of the hospital's medicine room.

Their interactions add a sense of warmth and emotion to the already engaging film.

Reminds us of: "Pan's Labyrinth" for its creative innovations.

"Pineapple Express"

Starring: Seth Rogen, James Franco, Amber Heard, Danny McBride

Directed by: David Gordon Green

Rating: 1 1/2 stars out of 4

In "Pineapple Express," Sal (Franco) plays a drug dealer and best friend to Dale Denton (Rogen), a process server who's more concerned with smoking marijuana than taking the time to meet the parents of his teenage girlfriend Angie (Heard). When Dale witnesses a murder by a crooked cop working for one of the city's drug lords, Dale and Sal find themselves on the run.

It's not the film's "pot"-centered plot that held it back. Where "Pineapple Express" went wrong was in overdoing the "raunchy" factor, which in turn led the film down the path of other 2008 box office bombs like "Speed Racer," a dry adaptation of the 1960s Japanese animated series from the Wachowski brothers (directors of "The Matrix" series).

Though the inappropriateness of the relationship between Dale and Amanda manages to draw a few laughs, Rogen and Franco together on screen fall flat. The two don't gel, and it's their drug-founded friendship that Green relies on to keep the film afloat.

Because of Apatow's proven Hollywood track record, defined by such hits as "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," the bar for "Pineapple Express" was set too high.

Reminds us of: "Borat: Cultural Learnings for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" for its overly raunchy appeal.

"Wall-E"

Starring: Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard

Directed by: Andrew Stanton

Rating: 3 1/2 stars out of 4

An animated film that appeals to not only young children but also teenagers, adults and seniors alike, Disney Pixar Studios' "Wall-E" tells a heartfelt story about two robots who fall in love and find companionship on a deserted planet Earth.

Though Pixar's certainly delivered before with the success of such hits as "Finding Nemo" and "The Incredibles" - both of which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature - the Emeryville based studio raised the bar tenfold.

A testament to the technical genius of Pixar, the film couples the studio's cutting-edge technology with a futuristic plot packed with waste-removing robots, outer space cruise ships and a completely obese human race.

Pixar took a gamble with the beginning of the film, utilizing little-to-no dialogue for nearly the first 20 minutes. After Wall-E finds love, he embarks on an incredible adventure to save the human race and return mankind to Earth.

As always, Pixar adds comedy and wit to its crisp Computer Generated Imagery, and manage to transform a typical "family film" into a visionary piece of art anyone can appreciate.

Reminds us of: "Finding Nemo" for its fun, light-hearted humor and Oscar-worthy animation.